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1 Sept 2001

TDC News(HKTDC Electronics, Vol 05,2001)

Finance Centre Widens Appeal

Shown at the 16th
Joint Plenary Session of the Hong Kong-US Business Council in Atlanta
are (left to right) US consul general in Hong Kong Michael Klosson;
Hong Kong commissioner for economic and trade affairs Jacqueline Willis;
Hong Kong chairman of the Hong Kong-US Business Council Ronnie Chan;
US chairman of the council Doug Daft; US Chamber of Commerce president
Thomas Donohue; and TDC executive director Michael Sze.

RULE of law and pro-competitive regulatory reforms are cornerstones
of Hong Kong's ability to sustain its role as an international financial
services centre, concluded members of the Hong Kong-US Business Council
at their recent 16th Joint Plenary Session in Atlanta, Georgia.

In a joint communiqu
members noted Hong Kong's efforts to raise standards of corporate governance
and its role as a place for Chinese mainland enterprises to raise international
capital.

US members suggested Hong Kong should be proactive in Asia's
broader efforts to reform and strengthen the region's financial institutions.
They agreed Hong Kong serves as a model for other countries, specifically
for the mainland as it undertakes financial liberalization consistent with
entry to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Hong Kong-US Business Council, comprised of corporate leaders,
is a private-sector initiative to strengthen and expand business links. The
recent meeting was co-chaired by US council chairman Doug Daft and Hong Kong
chairman Ronnie Chan.

Members anticipated opportunities for increased government-business
cooperation on promoting the growth of a Greater China knowledge economy.
They agreed intellectual property protection must remain a policy objective.

They endorsed Hong Kong's achievements in telecoms liberalization
while noting that IT and hi-tech development on the Chinese mainland and
the development of 3G and digital broadcasting in Hong Kong created attractive
opportunities for overseas companies.

Council members discussed progress in liberalizing transport
sectors. They noted Hong Kong's strength as a transport and distribution
hub and agreed the city must adapt to changing regional dynamics, adjusting
to the integration of its transport infrastructure with that of the Pearl
River Delta.

Members also discussed the opening of the mainland's transport
and logistics sectors to foreign investment and the need to continue developing
Hong Kong as a logistics centre.

The council received a message of support from US secretary
of commerce Donald Evans. At a pre-plenary dinner, the guest speaker was
US transportation secretary Norman Y. Mineta. Immediate past US ambassador
to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke, addressed the council on the strategic
importance of the US-China relationship. Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell delivered
closing remarks.

The full-day meeting also covered the US economic and political
landscape; the Bush administration's priorities and their implications for
the Asia-Pacific region; China's WTO accession; and Hong Kong's role as
a business platform in Asia.

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC) administers
the Hong Kong section and the US Chamber of Commerce, based in Washington,
administers the US section. The next such plenary meeting is scheduled for
Hong Kong in 2002.

Report Praises IPR Progress

Hong Kong remains "one of the freest cities in Asia",
according to a recent US Department of State report to Congress on US-Hong
Kong relations.

The report covers the period of 1 April 2000 through 31 July 2001.

"During the past two years Hong Kong has made substantial progress
in the fight against pirated movies, audio and software compact discs and
pirated trademark goods," the report concedes.

It welcomes the fact that Hong Kong has "significantly strengthened"
its regime for protecting intellectual property rights (IPR), including
legislation to criminalize corporate use of unlicensed software.

The State Department says the Office of the US Trade Representative "now
regularly cites Hong Kong as a model for other Asian economies struggling
with their own problems of IPR piracy".

The report says Hong Kong has few non-tariff barriers and investment restrictions
and is dismantling the few existing restrictions.

It acknowledges that Hong Kong opened broadcast and telecoms markets to
greater competition starting in 1998, resulting in "a significant increase
in US direct foreign investment (US$2.5bn in 1999), including several major
telecom projects". In the US government's assessment, the main remaining
hurdle is opening the wire-based telecoms market, which Hong Kong has promised
to do by January 2003.

The US bemoans an absence of antitrust laws and the high cost of market
entry, a combination leading to domination of some sectors by incumbent
local operators. The report underlines the need to liberalize civil aviation,
concluding that a wide gap lingers between the US position and Hong Kong's
more restrictive approach.

Citing an annual business confidence survey by the American Chamber of Commerce
in late-2000, the State Department says US companies have a favourable view
of Hong Kong's business environment, including its autonomous, impartial
legal system, free-flowing information, low taxation and well-developed
infrastructure.

New Zealand Fosters Closer Ties

TDC chairman Peter
Woo (left) comes to grips with New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark
at an Auckland meeting to explore opportunities to strengthen partnerships
between the two economies.

HONG Kong and New Zealand can anticipate stronger economic
ties, according to New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark. She spoke after
a recent meeting in Auckland with TDC chairman Peter Woo and other Hong
Kong business leaders.

Clark said she supported Woo's idea of closer partnerships between small
to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and welcomed the TDC's pledge to work
closely with Trade New Zealand to foster business links.

Woo said Hong Kong could benefit from strategic partnerships with SMEs in
New Zealand's information technology and biotechnology sectors. He added
that New Zealand could become Hong Kong's Silicon Valley.

Hong Kong's strengths are marketing-orientated while New Zealand's are in
research and development, he added.

"The idea is to seek strategic partners with complementary skills and
core competencies," Woo said.

Hong Kong traders handle 40% of the Chinese mainland's foreign trade. With
the mainland's trade expected to double in five years after accession to the
World Trade Organization, New Zealand SMEs can benefit from Hong Kong's "first
mover advantage" there.

Clark said she strongly supported the signing of a Closer Economic Partnership
Agreement between the two economies. "The bilateral agreement is expected
to reduce non-tariff barriers and liberalize service trade and investment
in New Zealand. We look forward to strengthening ties with Hong Kong,"
she said.

New Zealand's exports to Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland have more than
quadrupled during the past decade, and the combined markets are New Zealand's
fourth largest.

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